New Teams Help Take Indian Premier League Cricket To New Heights

So, now the number of cricket teams in the Indian Premier League has risen to 10—and the IPL has risen to new heights.

The Pune franchise, sold for $370 million, has been picked up by the Sahara group and the Cochi franchise, sold for $333.33 million, is owned by a comparatively new name in the sports world, Rendezvous Sports. Both new teams will join the action in 2011.

Interestingly, the amount paid for both franchises is almost equal to the combined cost of the eight franchises sold in the IPL's first auction.

The IPL, growing by leaps and bounds every year, has taken cricket higher than ever.

Before, the only options for spectators were to attend the matches or watch on television. But now we also can follow the action at theaters, on live streaming feeds on YouTube, and the list goes on, thanks to IPL chief Lalit Modi.

Now we can even express our views towards a SIX, or a mis-field, at the very instant it occurs, through Twitter and YouTube.

Mr. Modi believes that the IPL is not in competition with Test cricket or the ODIs, rather it is competing with the likes of English Premier League soccer and NBA basketball.

Showering money on everyone, be it players, team owners, or sponsors, it is soon to be among the richest sporting leagues in the world.

With the number of matches to be increased to 94, it is growing bigger and better.

It broke the perception that T20 is killing cricket, by providing entertainment and experience to our local talents, providing them international exposure and the chance to play with the likes of Jacques Kallis, Shane Warne, and Adam Gilchrist.

IPL has brought the biggest phenomena of India together: cricket, Bollywood, and corporate.

Bollywood brings glamour to the game, which renewed the interest of many fans and also attracted non-cricketing enthusiasts, who had found it difficult to be glued to the television for a whole day.